Nu Accoudé 1919

This is Henri Matisse’s “Nu Accoudé”, it’s hard to pin down a date for it. He makes a colour do so much work here; it is just like, a few drags of the brush and suddenly we have a whole mood. Look at the surface – not too fussy, right? It is just oil paint on canvas doing its thing. You can almost smell the linseed oil, that’s how present the materiality of the paint is. The off-white of the body and chair is a star here, it picks up the light, but also feels like it is reflecting something back. Like the painting itself is breathing. Take the way he painted the eyes; it is so direct and unapologetic. Matisse wasn't trying to hide anything. He lets it all hang out. You see this also in someone like Alice Neel, who’s portraits have a similar unflinching gaze, stripped back to basics. It's like they're saying, "Here I am, take it or leave it."